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Ups And Downs
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Local games!!!
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By:
Eric Hitchmo
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24/03/2010
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Well I've said it so many times already in the last few weeks but in yet another defiant act of chicken counting, I'm going to look at next season. We're not going to go down, and probably not up either. I'm not going to look at all the additions our squad requires, and indeed the subtractions however, I'll be looking at the six new teams we'll be up against, or rather at this stage who I would prefer it to be.
First I'll look at League One. The four in the bottom at the time of writing are Stockport, Wycombe, Exeter and Southend. Not entirely inspiring is it? Still, at least there are two pretty local sides in there and on a personal note, Southend would be a new one for me. I've heard some great stories from those who went to Southend on Friday nights to see Barnet go top of this very league, over ten years ago. I wouldn't mind sampling some of that myself. And of course, you're guaranteed a quality night out in the local area with no danger of local chavs in ridiculous cars that have a purpose of disguising severe inferiority in the cock department. Not that I'd know. Anyway...Southend would be a good addition I reckon.
We've become familiar with the other three of late. Exeter spent just a year with us before going straight off into League One and finding it just a little step too far. We of course met them in the Conference back in the day where we had some memorable battles over just four games. Each one had its own qualities, especially the away games. The 3-0 midweek thrashing that pissed on Eamonn Dolan's (whatever happened to him?!) leaving parade and the 1-1 draw which kept us in the playoff hunt before Martin Allen made his way to Brentford. That 3-0 was fantastic. Happy days, those.
Also not making a very good first of it are Wycombe. They're seven points off safety right now. Looks like they're coming straight back down. I've never had much time for Wycombe away. It should be a good trip but for some reason it just isn't. Maybe another visit there will turn the tide. Perhaps it's something to do with the fact that every game there seems to be pretty awful, but that doesn't tend to have much bearing on some away days, right regular readers?! Anyway, at least it's local and it gives us an opportunity to take a half respectable away crowd, if we're doing OK.
Stockport have had an absolute nightmare and are clearly down. I've been there enough times and I'm not really pining to go there again. It could well be good trip potential though, what with its proximity to Manchester. The last time out was a 4-2 victory where we tore them to pieces in a season where eventually, they won the Playoff final. Adam Birchall notched twice, Josh Wright got his first ever professional goal and even Ashley Carew bagged one, albeit via a massive deflection. Still, Stockport away? On that open, seated end? Told you it was uninspiring.
There are still plenty of teams that appear willing to take the unconfirmed relegation spaces by a lack of talent on the field. We've never played Tranmere before. They started disgracefully under the footballing messiah John Barnes, but have dragged themselves barely above the water in a big scrap for survival. Hartlepool have slipped gradually right into trouble but provide another geographical nightmare. When is this league ever going to show some Southern balance? Gillingham is in the south. Apparently. This horrendous Medway town has the appearance of a Northern town dumped square in the middle of England's garden (that's Kent, fact fans) with little to no redeeming features. They could be the third team (assuming Exeter and Wycombe follow) to return straight back to the Football League's basement having just gone up. How very boring.
Oldham are another club who we have never played but it's not going to be the first fixture you look out for when they are released in the summer are they? Oldham is just another Northern town which inspires the reaction of "Ugh" when you see it on a piece of paper, or the internet in this case. We're going to lose Rochdale, surely they can't bottle it now, but in return we're going to get more grim sounding outposts. Bring back Division Three South that's what I say! Who's that just above Oldham though, just hovering there perilously? Oh it's Leyton Orient! They looked for a while like they'd never be in trouble but that would certainly be a game to look out for if they managed to lose ground on five teams and slip into the bottom four. Definitely a game to look out for on the fixture list.
And this leads me nicely onto the Conference and another fixture which would at least invoke a shade of emotion and passion amongst the dwindling Barnet numbers. I of course refer to Stevenage Borough. It looks like finally, they might just do it. As I mentioned briefly in my rivals article a few weeks back, they are a rival of ours, certainly more so than anything on offer at the moment and it would be a fixture that we could at least look forward to and get excited about. I'm looking forward to Dagenham away in a few weeks time, but not because I want to get one over on them but because of how good they day out promises to be. But Stevenage will be something different. We can get excited about that, we can get a good numerical backing up there and hopefully, put them in their place. It's time now, get them up here, I need a game to care about. Them and Orient in the same league would be great for us.
Oxford are starting to lose their bottle (again). They play an important game tonight and then face Stevenage next week. What a massive game that is. It could be a massive title decider. If Stevenage win, they are surely there, it will be in their own hands. Especially considering they have to play Luton soon after, the only other club that could feasibly challenge the top spot. What's this? Southern clubs? Bliss!!! Some balance at last. Whichever one of these three wins the Conference, it'll be a close trip for us. Very nice.
That's not all. The other contenders for the Playoffs include Rushden & Diamonds, Kettering, AFC Wimbledon and...York...all within an hour...except York...so it's not a bad little deal for us. From a footballing point of view though, many of these clubs are bigger than us. Rushden and Stevenage certainly have the immediate potential to be bigger than us. These are bigger clubs for us to struggle to finish ahead of. However as the tone of this article suggests, that's not my biggest worry at this moment in time. All I want is local games, and games to get excited about. Forgive me. Talking about football is not something I'm overly keen to emphasise at the moment.
So it's fair to say I'm looking ahead. Did you get that vibe?
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